Loading apparatus.



No. 746,253. PATENTED DEC. 1903-.

R. BAGGALBY.

LOADING APPARATUS; APPLIQATIONIPILED APR. 23. 1903.

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- R.BAGGALEY.

LOADING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 23, 1903.

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UNITED STATES Patented December 8, 1903.

PATENT; OFFICE.

LOADING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 746,253, dated December 8, 1903. 7

Application filed April 23, 1903.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RALPH BAGGALEY, of Pittsburg, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Loading Apparatus, of which the following'is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a plan View of my device, showin g in dotted lines the car and the loading-arm in one of its operative positions. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partly broken away. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line III III of Fig. 2, on a larger scale than Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4 is a detail side elevation of the deliverychute and registering mechanism; and Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the delivery-chute,

showing the tilting trough.

My invention relates to a loading apparatus for receiving and distributing pigs of copper and likearticles to box-cars or cars of other types as well as vehicles of various descriptions without the necessity of employing manual labor.

My apparatus efiects the easy and. rapid loading of cars with copper pigs or like articles which are diflicult to handle manually owing to their weight, shape, and size, but are evenly distributed and properly placed by my improved apparatus upon the carfioor or other place where it is desired to deposit thom.

This apparatus is preferably one unit of a complete system which I have devised for handling copper or other ores, their resulting mattes, slags, 850., and the handling of the pigs which are produced by the various processes employed; and it is especially adapted to be used in conjunction with an automatic warehousing-machine invented by me, from which it directly receives the stored pigs and distributesthem in proper position upon the car to be loaded.

My invention provides an apparatus which may be placed at one side of the track and stands in such a position that the deliveryarms may reach both ends of the cars and when a boxcar is used may be advanced and retracted through the car-door opening. The apparatus also provides for the automatic registration of each pig as it passes from the conveyer by whichit is brought to Serial No. 153,944. (No model.)

the loading apparatus. It also provides an alarm-signal by which the operator is apprised of the fact that a predetermined number of pigs have been received and distributed.

Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1, 2

represents the end of a belt conveyer, which preferably is inclined upwardly a suflicient degree to enable the chute 3 to deliver the pigs or likevarticles to the curved downwardlyinclined chutes 4 4. at such an elevation that slide, suitable wearing-strips 11 11 being prov vided to support it and side guides 12 12 for keeping it in the proper position, as shown in Fig. 3.

At intervals in the floor 10 I provide doors which are hinged at 14, Fig. 2, and are normally held elevated by a book 15, which engages a pin or rod 16, secured to an arm 17,

which is pivoted to the side plates 6 or some other suitable place on the frame.

- The arm 17 is connected to the door 13' by a link 18, and when the parts are in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2 all the doors .13 are rigidly upheld and the pigs will'be discharged at the end 9 of the arm 5, the conveyer 19, Fig. 3, being provided with wheelsupported cross-bars 20, which are guided by angles 21 and engage the ends of each pig.

As'the pigs pass along the arm they engage a finger 22, mounted on a shaft 23, which at one end is provided with an arm 24., to which is secured a pawl 25, Fig. 2, which engages a 28, Fig. 3, which at the proper time engages an arm 29, pivoted to the frame of the distributing-arm 5, and having an arm 30 preferably formed integrally therewith, which operates a rod 31, secured to a rock-arm 32, Fig. 2, mounted on a shaft 33, to which the ratchet-wheel 26, mounted on a shaft 27, and upon its face it is provided witha pin or log hook 1G is secured. Y'Vhen the pin 28 moves the arms 29 and 30, the rod 31 and the rockarm 32 disengage the book 15 from the rod or pin 16, and the arm 17 drops, and the door 13 falls into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, and the next succeeding series of pigs or a predetermined number of pigs pass through the opening in the floorlO, formed by the dropping of the door. The other doors 13 are operated in like manner and by similar operative connections, the only difference being that three of the doors 13 are operated by a pin 3%, located on the large gear 35, which is rotated by thesmall pinion 36,secured to the shaft 27, which carries the ratchetwheel 26, the small pinion being rotated as the ratchet-wheel is moved, and at the same time the large gear 35 is slowly moved; but the doors are all released after the full number of pigs which it is intended shall be placed atone end of the car have passed the arm 22.

The arm 5 is supported by a suitable overhead trolley 37, Fig. 2, which is arranged to run on tracks or beams 38, so as to be moved into position to distribute the pigs or other articles or to be retracted so as to be out of the way when the cars are moved into and out of position to be loaded or taken away, as shown in Fig. 1.

After one end of the car is filled the trough et", Fig. 5, is tilted so as to fill the other end of the car. This is done by the operator, as hereinafter described. The chute 4 is disconnected at 4, Fig. 1, from the arm 5, which has just been used, and it is moved out and another arm is brought into position to fill the opposite end of the car. The chute 4c of this arm is secured at 4 to that portion of the chute carried by the traveling arm 5, which has just been moved into position, and at a given signal the conveyer 2 is started again, and the pigs are delivered and distributed, as before described, only at the opposite end of the car.

As the pigs are delivered by the conveyer 2 to the chute 3 they pass over the finger 39, Fig. 5, and each pig moves the ratchet-wheel 40, Fig. 4, one tooth, and this wheel in turn rotates the pinion 4.1, which meshes with the gear-wh eel 12, which carries a pin 43. As the last pig of a predetermined number-for example, a car-load or a certain consign mentengages the arm 39 the pin 43 engages the arm 44 on the shaft 45, which shaft carries the arm 46, connected to a rod 47, which operates a hook 48 to disengage it. The hook normally rests under a bracket-arm 49, Fig. 5, secured to the support for the chute 3. This hook e8 retains the tilting-trough portion l of the chuteet in the position shown in full lines in 4: and 5 until withdrawn by the mechanism just described, the troughsection having been placed in the full-line position by the operator-pulling the rod 50, and when the other end of the car has been loaded 'with the desired number of pigs or other articles a spring acts to tip the trough-section in the opposite direction when the hook is retracted, and this only takes place when the car has received its full complement of pigs. The same movement that trips the hook operates the cord 51, Fig. 4:, and, sounds an alarm 52, showing that another car is needed, or the signal may be used for any other purpose desired. The conveyer 19, Fig. 1, may be operated by suitable gear connection 53 54;, driven by any suitable power.

By the apparatus above described a certain number-say twenty-five pigs of a total carload of three hundred pigs-are first delivered in a pile at the end of the distributor. The ratchet mechanism on the passage of the first twenty-five pigs will open the door 13 nearest the outer end of the distributer, so that the second group of twenty-five pigs will be delivered in a pile nearer the middle of the car. In like mannerthe other doors will be opened in regular sequence until one hundred and fifty pigs have been distributed in six piles over one half of the car-floor. Then another distributing-arm is introduced and six piles are distributed in like manner over the other half of the carfloor.

The advantages of my invention will be apparent to those familiar with the difficulties experienced in the handling of metal pigs and like articles, since by the use of this apparatus much time and labor are saved, and the apparatus being simple in construction is reliable and not likely to get out of order, and when not in use it may be moved out of the way so that no obstruction is afiorded to the movementof the cars into and out of position.

Many variations in the mechanical construction of this device will suggest themselves to the skilled mechanic, and changes in the form and arrangementof the parts may be made without departing from myinvention.

I claim- 1. A loading device for cars having a distributer movably supported and adapted to be moved into position to extend over the car-floor, a positively-driven conveyer adapted to carry articles along the same, and means for discharging the articles at various parts of the distributer; substantially as described.

2. A loading device for cars having an elevated source of supply, a chute, a distribnter adapted to extend over the car-floor, a positively-driven conveyer adapted to carry articles along the same, and means for discharging the articles at various parts of the distributer; substantially as described.

3. A loading device for cars having a distributer adapted to extend over the car-floor, a positively-driven con veyer adapted to carry articles along the same, openings in the bottom portion of the distributer provided with closing devices, and mechanism arranged to release said devices automatically; substantially as described.

ICC

4. A loading device for cars having a. dis- In testimony whereof I have hereunto set tributer adapted to extend over the car-floor, my hand. a conveyor adapted to carry articles along the same, means for discharging the articles I 5 at various parts of the distributer, and an Witnesses:

alarm actuated after the passage of a certain GEO. B. BLEMING, numberofarticles;substantiallyasdescribed. JOHN MILLER.

RALPH BAGGALEY. 

